Frieze Los Angeles makes a sun-kissed comeback: here’s what to see

Southern California is experiencing something of an art gallery gold rush. In the last quarter, a flurry of traditionally East Coast-anchored names has announced new outposts in Los Angeles, including Pace, Lisson, Sean Kelly and The Hole, just in time for a Frieze LA-timed housewarming.  From 17-20 February, Frieze Art Fair will host its third edition after a two-year Covid-19-induced hiatus. Other notable changes to the order of service, it will move from its previous site in Hollywood’s Paramount Studios for a new space in Beverly Hills designed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast and will be steered by the newly appointed director, Christine Messineo. ‘Frieze Los Angeles promises to be a site for ambitious artistic presentations and important collaborations that show the expansive and varied nature of the city. Having missed out on a fair in 2021, this year gives us so much to celebrate – not only our new location at the iconic Beverly Hilton but also the renewed opportunities for arts discovery and patronage,’ she says.  Frieze Art Fair: the highlights  Alongside the fair’s core presentations of solo, dual, and thematic shows, at the heart of this year’s programme is a collaboration with artist Tanya Aguiñiga, who has organised a new project, BIPOC Exchange as part of the Frieze Projects programme. Staged adjacent to the fair in The Beverly Hilton Hotel the initiative will involve a special section highlighting the work of ten of Los Angeles’ artist-led social-impact initiatives: People’s Pottery Project, Tierra Del Sol, AMBOS, Las Fotos Project, Classroom of Compassion, Tequio Youth/MICOP, Contra Tiempo, GYOPO, Los Angeles Poverty Department, and Urban Voices Project.  Elsewhere, the winner of the ​​Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Film Award – presented in partnership with Endeavor Content and Ghetto Film School will be announced, and the Focus LA section will highlight 11 of the city’s most dynamic young galleries, and emerging or lesser-known artists pushing the boundaries of their materials or subject matter.  For the 2022 R.U.in.ART Commission, artist and activist Suzanne Husky will present a participatory installation titled Dam Beaverly Hills!, exploring and honouring the essential role the North American beaver plays in California’s ecosystem. The work, which takes the form of an installation activated through live events will ‘will draw attention to the generosity and world-building characteristics of beavers, and will look to the animal as a radical ally of regenerative agriculture and as a spiritual teacher,’ as Husky puts it.  Frieze Los Angeles 2022: exhibitions to see in the city  Exhibition: Kazuhito Kawai ‘I Gotta Feeling’  Location: Steve Turner  Dates: Until 12 March 2022 Liposomal Vitamin C, 2021 glazed ceramic Kasama-based Japanese artist Kazuhito Kawai’s solo show ‘I Gotta Feeling’ features new ceramic works ranging from monochrome to vivid, electric colours. For the March 2022 issue, writer Minako Norimatsu spoke to rising star ceramic artist about his deliberately deformed kaleidoscopic creations. Kawai’s otherworldly works draw on everything from plastic surgery to J-pop and 1990s culture, fashion and film. ‘The feeling of not fitting in always urges me to create,’ he says. ‘I was not destined for making regular pottery, and my hands opted to deform vessels into something non-functional.’  Exhibition: ‘Everyday Rituals’  Location: 322 South Broadway (2nd floor) Dates: 17-22 February 2022 Installation view of ’Everyday Rituals’. Image courtesy Max Farago  Contrary to cultural tendencies, ‘Everyday Rituals’ is a celebration of accomplished makers; those who have spent decades fine-tuning their practice. A curatorial collaboration between Alex Tieghi-Walker of Tiwa Select and Max Farago of Farago, the show features two and three-dimensional work across a variety of media, including ceramic and metal, textile and wood, paper and canvas. Curiously, many of the featured works were not created for display in a formal art environment, but in utilitarian, spiritual, public or private spaces. Featured artists include Jim McDowell (Asheville NC, b. 1954), Andrée Singer Thompson, Louis Mueller, Mary Ann Pettway, Sandú Darié and Michael Lindsay-Hogg.  Olafur Eliasson ‘Your light spectrum and presence’ Location: Tanya Bonakdar Gallery Dates: until 2 April 2022  Olafur Eliasson, Colour experiment no. 108, 2020 Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar. Gallery, New York / Los Angeles In 2009, Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson began creating circular paintings inspired by a new, comprehensive colour theory encompassing all visible colours of the prism. Working with a colour chemist, he mixed the exact tone of paint for each nanometer of light in the spectrum. As the artist has said: ‘Geometrically speaking, a rainbow is actually a circle. If the earth were not in the way, if there were no horizon blocking your view, you would see the whole round rainbow as a perfect circle wrapping around you, with your eye at its centre.’ ‘Your light spectrum and presence’, a show of 12 new works at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery offers an optical deep-dive into Eliasson’s study of light within his painting practice. §  
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